songs in the key of my life

Tag Archives: world cup

hope you not only made it through the holiday weekend but were blessed by all kinds of wealth, love, courage, that priceless gold called courage.

today on hot 97, people’s choice countdown, angie martinez show, featured lil kim’s diss rap, black friday, aimed high and aimed low but aimed for sure at nicki minaj. black friday is supposedly as a rejoinder to minaj’s, no entry. now we got the youtube phenom of drake at a concert saying nicki don’t stop you the bestest, calling out kim on stage. as a hip hop writer i hesitate to enter this melee, if only because i loathe to be complicit in this battle. battles are a part and parcel of the genre, true, but yet a plague on hip hop these battles are. because it goes beyond inspiring artists to create, and it overflows into slave master’s kicking back a cold moonshine while the slaves fight to the death for massah’s viewing pleasure. what, there’s not enough shine to go around? really? i guess not, because when i was coming up we had way more female mc’s than now, all of them could hold their own, none of this best ever, only one type shit. nah, just everybody express yourself. we all need to.

im at bluefrog, a blingy venue in bombay, huge flat screens abound, a quiet scream quells on my lips, south korea loses, i am picturing the red shirted country shudder, and watch as the losers sink to the wet field, each alone in their grief, while the winners rejoice like magnets, stuck to each other, to joy beyond belief. where the screen was a band now is, an all desi band, an all rock set, they are called “the other people,” and they played an impressive set. a dude actually came correct, and we danced, had some floor fun, at least till 1:30am, when music gets its plug pulled. bombay. what can a girl say.

*
fuck
was every other word out his mouth
last night outside the club
he’s mad at his friend, sweltering love
fuck
i see it on tshirts on the side of the road
between black and yellow taxis
i clear my mental load
fuck
bombay is for writers
you can read it in the graceful decay
enjoy yourself, may not have another day

*
my 6 year old nephew
wears his sunglasses at night
i think thats tight
i love how he’s always moving
the hindi dubbed cartoons got him grooving
a sensitive child
quietly wild
a smile so soothing

*
its time for africa
unwinds from ringtones
across india
across the third world
waka waka has nearly 50 million hits
on youtube
and something about knaans remix
has me thinking
revolution
wave what flags
each of us a country
each of us a goal
every one of us a win
every one of us so whole
without these leaders
these greedy bottom feeders
we know we are more than war
we know we can more than soar
the music generation
our global body is ready for more

i have a passion for music, and i come from a long line of singers. if you don’t know, now you know. here are a couple cuts i’ve been working on over here in kerela, south india. i grew up on hip hop and indian spirituals. so i riff off both of those styles when i sing or rap. enjoy. and remember, get your paper ladies, don’t let los tigres distract you. xoxoxo.

dedicated to my shadow:

this one goes out to my global south folks. may the dope cultural connection between south america, the caribbean, and india only continue to grow through scholarship and art.